The Demon Conspiracy (14 page)

I assumed the warm
sunlight blasting the cave entrance would fry any demon that might
stick its head out of the shadows. And the park was busy—almost
crowded—with police officers, firefighters, EMTs and other rescue
personnel. The area was secure, and yet I still shivered every time
I glanced at the cave. The demons had made their intentions clear
and I couldn’t get their threat out of my head:
We’ll grab you in the dark, when the night comes. The dark
belongs to usss!

It wasn’t dark yet, just midafternoon, but
night would come like it always did. We clearly had no business
being so close to the cave, but we really needed to know what the
rescue team was planning. And we weren’t leaving the park until Jon
was found.

Ranger Laarz scanned the faces of her
co-rescuers with a steel-edged look in her eyes. She was a
take-charge kind of person and had clearly decided that her first
order of business was to settle their nerves as quickly as
possible.

“Where was the epicenter?” asked an older
black man with massive shoulders and a deep, bass voice. This guy
looked bigger than Dr. Parrish. Could he even fit through some of
the narrow places inside the cave?

“Right here in the park,”
said Laarz. “Or more accurately, about a quarter mile into the
cave. “Look, we’re all a little nervous about going into a cave
after what happened, but there are three men trapped in there who
need our help, and one of them has a broken leg. Most of us have
extensive search and rescue experience and I’m sure we’ve all faced
worse dangers than this. So let’s get our heads on straight and get
these guys out of there before their flashlights die. Does anyone
have a problem with caves? If you do, you’d better let me
know
now
.” Laarz
paused dramatically, leaning on the shotgun like a cane. But the
tone of her voice dared anyone in the group to back out.

Some of them shrugged and shook their heads,
but nobody stepped down. Laarz went on.

“Good. I know a few of you, but not
everyone. I think it would be a good idea if we learned everybody’s
names and what we do, starting with me. I’m Melinda Laarz, the head
ranger here at Crystal Creek Park. I’ve been in this cave a few
times, but I don’t claim to be an expert caver. That’s why I called
some of you to help us. Eric?” She looked at Wooden, who pretended
to be serious.

“Eric Wooden, second in command of this
park. That’s second…out of three.”

Everyone laughed. He lightened up and
offered a winning smile that helped keep the tension down. “I’m
just another ranger here, but I’ve always wanted to explore the
cave, so I guess this is my big chance.”

The athletic looking girl beside him sent a
smile his way. She had blonde, shoulder-length hair and the face of
a mischievous angel. She spoke next. “Anya Sapunenko. I’ll be
guiding some of you into the entrance on the other side of that big
rock wall. It’s the shortest way in.” She spoke with a Russian
accent, but her English was very good. Her equally athletic and
cute girlfriend spoke next.

“I’m Karen Otero and I’ll lead the rest of
you through this entrance. The reason we’re using both entrances is
in case one of them is impassable because of the quake. Anya and I
have been in this cave a million times and we know every path.”
Laarz and Wooden nodded in agreement.

“The kids say the quake made some changes,”
said Laarz. “Kelly, didn’t you say the arch collapsed?”

“Yes,” I replied. “But that’s good, because
you don’t have to crawl through water anymore. And there’s a giant
hole in front of the organ pipes where the lake used to be.”

Anya and Karen looked at each other,
confused.

“Used to be?” said Anya. “But that area was
solid rock. Where did the lake go?”

“The entire floor and the lake dropped into
a cavern below. You can still see all the pipes, but the organ keys
and the flowers are gone.”

“The new ledge is in a
really
big
cave,”
said Travis. “It’s huge!”

“Cool,” said Anya.

“New territory,” said Karen, brushing her
medium-length brown hair out of her eyes. The girls tapped fists
with each other. Their confidence seemed to lighten the fears of
some of the other rescuers.

Karen nodded to the police officer next to
her. It was his turn to speak. The officer was much older than the
girls, maybe in his sixties, with a rather large potbelly bulging
under his uniform. He carried a pistol on his belt and kept a
cardboard box full of radio equipment. Travis told me he counted
the bullets in his belt. Still not enough ammo.

“Ah’m Sheriff Andy Ford,”
he said in a thick country twang. “Ah’m in charge of
communications. Ah’ll be setting up about a hundred feet, or so,
inside the entrance. The radios don’t work as well
inside
a cave, so we’ll
position a person with a radio at any point where the signals start
to fade. You’ll relay all messages to me.” He looked at the woman
beside him. “Beth Ann?”

“Beth Ann Foster, EMT.” I recognized Foster
as the other EMT who had arrived in the ambulance with the east
Indian guy. She spoke softly and trembled when she said her own
name. Why would she force herself to go into the cave when she was
so obviously terrified of it? I listened to her thoughts and found
she wasn’t afraid of the cave at all. She was afraid to speak in
front of other people. Her shyness made her seem less attractive,
even plain, but she had potential good looks. Foster immediately
glanced at her partner to take the group’s attention away from
her.

“Malik Parikh, EMT,” said the lean
dark-skinned man, who had spiked, black hair and wore wire-rimmed
glasses. “I assure you, we’re both stronger than we look.” He said
it as a joke and flexed his thin arm muscles. The group laughed.
Malik was probably born in the United States, or he’d lived here
most of his life because he had absolutely no accent. Where Foster
made the effort to stay out of the spotlight, Malik clearly loved
it. “Is everyone here certified in first aid?” The others all
nodded. “Good, that’ll make our job a lot easier.”

Next, the black man spoke for both himself
and the smaller man beside him. “I’m Sigmund Holzmayer, but most
people call me Siggy. And this is Van Nguyen, just call him Van.
We’re firefighters with Loudoun County and we’ve been on several
cave rescues together. Van’s from Vietnam, but his English is
decent and he really knows his stuff. Plus, he’s small enough to
squeeze into some of those tight spots where the rest of us aren’t
gonna fit.”

The last guy was tall, thin and completely
bald. I couldn’t tell if he shaved his head or not, but it looked
like he did. He had small earrings in both ears and tattoos on his
arms. He nodded to everyone.

“Marcus Conn, volunteer firefighter,
Ashland. I happened to be in the area when I heard about your
trouble. This will be my first time in a cave.”

Laarz took charge again. “Thank you all. If
we’re still here by this evening, a backup team will spell us. If
you have trouble with names, just ask, we’re all professionals and
should know procedure. When Sheriff Ford gives you a headset, check
the batteries and make sure it works on both channels. Anya’s route
on the other side of the mountain is significantly shorter than
this one, so if that tunnel isn’t blocked, her group should arrive
at the Cathedral room first. I want Eric, Siggy and Beth Ann to go
with her. Karen will take the rest of us through this entrance.
Like I said, we’re looking for three men, Chris McCormick, Jon
Bishop, and Anton Edwards. McCormick is the kids’ foster father and
has a broken leg. I understand the children splinted it for
him.”

“Travis put on the splint,” I said proudly.
Everyone nodded their approval and Siggy rubbed Travis on top of
his head. There it was again, the hair rub, and from a total
stranger.

“Nice work, Travis,” said Malik, winking.
Travis blushed.

“Maybe we take him, too?” said Van. “He fit
in even smaller space than me.”

Everyone laughed, but Travis shook his head.
“No way! I’m not going back in. There’s--”

Laarz quickly cut him off. “Some of you know
Anton Edwards. He’s been on numerous cave rescues across the
region. When the kids came out about an hour ago, his exact
whereabouts were unknown, but the Bishop boy and Mr. McCormick were
last seen on the broken ledge. It’s about a fifty-foot downward
climb to reach them, but Kelly told us a rope should still be
there. Any questions? Okay, folks, gear up.”

Ranger Laarz clearly didn’t want Travis to
mention anything about the demons, which wasn’t fair at all to the
other people going in. I was going to have to do something about
that.

The rescuers gathered
their equipment and strapped on packs. All of them wore hardhats
with headlamps and carried extra flashlights. Travis looked at me,
but I was concentrating on Laarz. Whether the head ranger wanted to
or not, she was going to say something about the
real
danger in the cave.
Laarz blinked funny and turned back to the others.

“Okay, one more thing. This is going to
sound weird, but I’d better warn you before we go in. There might
be some kind of animals in there.”

“Animals? What, like bats?” asked Otero.
“We’ve never seen bats in there.”

“Are these animals
dangerous? Is that why you’re hauling the heavy artillery?” Siggy
nodded at the shotgun. “I wanted to ask, but
you
were the one holding the
gun.”

“Are we going to be in danger?” asked Malik.
“Are they rabid?”

Before Laarz could open her mouth, Travis
blurted it out. “There’s demons! Lots of demons!” The others looked
at him incredulously, except for Van Nguyen, who seemed suddenly
nervous.

“Demons? What’s he talking about?”

“Should we
all
be
armed?”

“I gotta handgun in my car.”

“Is he serious?”

Laarz glared at Travis. “Nobody saw anything
except the kids. Dr. Parrish was with them, but he’d lost his
glasses and couldn’t see much at all. I’m guessing the quake may
have opened a new passage into the cave and possibly some wild
animals fell in.”

“They weren’t animals!”
cried Travis. “They were demons an’ they talked! They said they’re
gonna get Kelly and me
tonight
!”

Stop it, Travis!
I said inside his head.
They don’t believe you
!

He looked at me
angrily.
How can they be so
dumb?

I took over. “My other brother, Jon, brought
a camcorder. It should be in a backpack on the new ledge under some
rocks. We recorded some of what happened, so if you can find it,
it’ll show what we saw.”

“We’ll look for it,” promised Laarz,
relieved to be off the demon subject. “And we’ll do our best to
find your loved ones. Let’s go, everybody.”

A third park ranger drove up in a Jeep and
parked in front of the station. He got out and hurried over to the
cave, tucking in his shirt on the run. He was kind of short, about
the same height as Laarz, but stocky, too. He seemed a bit
disoriented.

“Hey, Melinda,” said the new ranger, almost
out of breath. His uniform was wrinkled and his copper hair
disheveled. “Sorry I’m late. Accident on the beltway.”

“There’s
always
an accident on
the beltway,” said Laarz with a smile. “I hated to call you back in
so soon, Ned. Did you get any sleep?”

“I’m fine.”

“Eric and I are going in. I’m leaving you in
charge of the afternoon shift. Depending on how long it takes, you
could be here a while. Are you okay with that?” Ned nodded, Laarz
went on. “I want you to coordinate things out here and stay close
to the radio. Ned, this is Sheriff Ford. He’ll give you a radio and
you’ll be our link to the outside world. Get some paper and take
notes on pretty much anything significant you hear. The State
Police will keep the press out and help you with security. Just run
the park and stay in touch with us, okay?”

“Yeah, no problem. I’ll be fine. Good
luck.”

Travis walked away from
the group with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He was
so
mad. He looked down
at the ground and noticed a mound of red ants. The ants kind of
reminded him of the demons, so he kicked them and messed up their
mound. The ants ran everywhere. I joined him.

“Sorry, Travis,” I said.
“But some of them thought you were crazy. I mean
really
crazy.”

“I figgered. I could feel
it. They don’t have enough ammo or guns. They’re all gonna die!
Then another rescue team will go after them and they’ll die!
Somebody’s
got to
do
something
!”

I checked my watch. “It’s nearly three
o’clock. The only thing I want to do is get Chris, Jon and Mr.
Edwards out of that cave…and leave this place before dark.”

***

Six hours later the park’s floodlights were
on and the original rescuers were still underground. Travis stayed
inside the ranger station and watched the flurry of activity from
the front window. He’d grown more and more worried for everyone who
was still in the cave, fearing they’d all been taken or killed by
demons. And now that it was dark, we might be next.

I went from the front window to the door to
the rear window, checking the shadows around the building and
fighting off tears. I hadn’t said or thought anything to Travis
since the sun went down, but he clearly sensed my fear. Up to now
I’d only been worried for Jon, Chris and Anton Edwards. But with
the onset of darkness I feared for my own life, and Travis’ too.
Ripper the wonder dog followed me wherever I went and stayed just
within ear-scratching range.